April 3, 2008
Transit on Thursday: The "Hey Ma, It Worked!" Edition
Yeah, Zimmerman's walk-off was memorable.
And, okay, the beer selection could use some sprucing up. (Where's the local flavor?)
But, the real questions on our minds here at Transit on Thursday were as follows:
1) Did Metro work well?
2) Will it continue to work well throughout the summer?
3) Finally, how can it get better?
To answer these questions, there were the big media reports, but they left us wanting a little bit more. Something authentic — what would someone you bump into at a bar tell you about the ride?
Well, what better source to go to than you, our chatty readers, for such quasi-inebriated perspective. We perused your comments the morning after, waiting for word from those lucky folks that got a chance to experience Opening Night — or more accurately, getting to Opening Night — first-hand. Your answers to our questions?
1) Yes, 2) yes, and 3) with some easily made upgrades, like pushing SmartTrip cards.
RJ "moved on and off quickly," while ces12 says, "I love the SmartTrip express lanes. I wish there were more and they were more clearly marked prior to getting close to the metro. But, if that's my biggest complaint, then it was a job extremely well done."
OldPosterKnownAsCranky was pleasantly surprised: "Metro: I was astounded. I had minimal hopes for Metro's performance. I was expecting broken down trains, long delays, broken escaltors, etc. Instead, the trains seemed to be timed to coincide with connecting trains. There was tons of Metro staff and cops at Gallery Place and Navy Yard. The trains were nice and clean and fully functional. The Green Line train operators even held the doors open long enough so that trains would be full going to Navy Yard."
Fairgurl might have just summed up the sentiment: "I echo the utter surprise (and delight) at the Metro. They were efficient, courteous and on time. Shocking."
Yeah, the parking is an issue for another time. For now, let's just give a hand to Metro succeeding on something that was a ginormous challenge for an agency consistently under fire.
Good work, Metro. Now do it 80 more times, please.
After the jump, illegal parkers will face the wrath of the bow-tied councilman, plus a whole boatload of odds and ends for the weekend ahead.
Photo by picture perfect.
So, All You Rogue Parkers, Get Out: Word trickles in from the Columbia Heights listserv that the "warning period" for parking violations around the new Target is ending on Monday, April 7. Jim Graham's note (very smugly signed with "Bests," at the end, no less) praised DDOT for their quick work in implementing new rules about who can park where in the residential areas around the Target. The bright side, though:
As a reminder, some enforcement may have been premature. If you received a ticket for a new restriction during the warning period, or know someone who has, please contact me for the ticket to be voided.
You can get your fill of all the new parking rules and regulations at Graham's official site.
Metro Board Releases 2008 Goals, Flying Trains Still Not On Tap: So, Metro's board of directors came up with a pretty comprehensive list of goals for the next year. We think it's a decent collection of ideas; while, we've known about a lot of these changes for a little bit (stop bragging about it and just change the colors already), there's still some new tidbits of information that we've just seen for the first time. For instance, a redesign of the WMATA website by November, perhaps with a more integrated version of the trip planner. Another good sign? The actual establishment of some firm guidelines, like the planned reduction of staff overtime by 10% by December, and adding an additional 30 rail cars. The whole honkin' PDF can be found here.
Yeah, The Beltway? Not Your Best Option This Weekend: Here's two separate yet equally annoying traffic updates for the upcoming weekend — and they both revolve around our good friend, the Capitol Beltway. On the one hand, there will be construction work at the Branch Avenue interchange, which will pretty much shut down the inner and outer loops for a significant period of time (probably 10 p.m. Friday to 10 a.m. Saturday). On the other, there's more planned construction work at the Woodrow Wilson Bridge which will require traffic beginning at the Eisenhower Avenue Connector Exit to merge from four lanes to three. This project is expected to run from 9 p.m. Friday until Sunday. Good luck if you're driving anywhere near these sites this weekend.
Engines and Cabooses: Metro to open at 5 a.m. on Sunday to facilitate transport for runners in the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler. The race starts at 7:45, and be sure to keep an eye on potential street closures...WMATA head John Catoe's monthly chat - always circled in red on our calendars - is tomorrow at noon. Transcripts found here, as usual...Council of Governments study finds that tolls on federal parkways could create $2.75 billion in transportation revenue - but National Park Service says it's not gonna happen...Assaulting a Metrobus driver will now result ina 50% longer sentence...Just a reminder: Metrorail operators can — and will — skip stops for the sake of timeliness.
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I thought Metro did a fine job as well. But worries me, however, is that it appeared to be "an all-hands evolution" for Metro. Metro clearly was planning for the crush and planned manpower and trains accordingly.
However, I got the sense that it was made easier by the fact that the game was on a Sunday, and wasn't competing with the usual evening rush hour. I am concerned with the prospect of a week-long homestand where the crowds will be competing with the thousands of commuters trying to get home in the evening.
I guess we'll see.
I get the feeling the process was actually smoother for people connecting to other lines than for those of us who live farther up on the Green Line. A coworker who lives in Del Ray was home in less than an hour (good transfer at L'Enfant). It took me an hour and a half to get home and I live a 15 minute walk from the Columbia Heights station. I mean, I understand why they turn a bunch of the trains back at Mt. Vernon Square (that's where the crossover track is, plus 75% of the passengers got off at L'Enfant and Gallery Place) but it seemed we waited a pretty long time for a train that would take us all the way home.
Not that I'm complaining. Well, except that I kind of am.
Wow, esmerelda - I cant believe it took you THAT long! I think I was stadium seat to door in 45 minutes and I live about 10 minutes from U Street.
My train originally was supposed to end at Mt Vernon, but changed halfway through to Greenbelt. Maybe they should keep a few more green liners going all the way up to Ft Totten.
I also think a part of people were secretly hoping that metro would fail so they'd have something to complain about.
Jim Graham consistently ends all of his emails, listserv postings, etc with "Bests."
Getting to the ballpark by any mode will be a learning process for all involved. Metro did a good job for opening night, and with time, traveling to and from games will be like second nature.
I really wondered with all the consternation if anyone lamenting the horrors to come had ever been to a baseball game at Wrigley, Fenway, or any of the other ballparks located within a city.
Overall, my experience on opening day was great. I kept waiting for a moment to complain and there weren't really many (though it was pretty jam packed getting off the train to walk up to the stadium entrance. I know the station has been enlarged, but I think they put in some twists and turns that cause a bit of a traffic jam in spots. Once we got off teh train we sort of shuffled up towards the gates. Very minor, though).
One oddity though related to Esmeralda's comment:
I was on a green line train that was labeled as ending at Mt. Vernon. But when it reached Mt. Vernon it suddenly switched to ending at Greenbelt. My friend and I hopped off, realized the change that had only occurred at that stop after the doors opened, and hopped back on exchanging confused comments with other passengers assuring us that we weren't totally crazy.Also, I second ces12's original comment about more clearly marking SmarTrip lanes before getting to the turnstile. This worked in my favor because I was already on the left side where the SmarTrip lanes happen to be. But there were plenty of people who didn't realize this was the case until they reached the turnstile and had to quickly push to their right.
So, in order to keep the trains on time, Metro is going to skip stops, making their passengers waiting on the platforms or exiting at the skipped stations not on time.
Huh?
The trick at Fenway was always to grab drinks before/after the game in order to avoid the crush on the T. I also think the MBTA is able to run the trains on their Green Line at closer headways. I seem to remember trains being lined up at Kenmore waiting for the game to let out, and following right behind each other. The closest WMATA will let their trains run is (I believe) 135 seconds apart. Of course, you can also get around 1,000 people on an 8-car Metro train, and you can't get nearly that many on a 2-car T.
The crush shouldn't be so bad once the Half Street development is up and running and there is actually something to do near the ballpark.
Bethesdaist, they're not skipping stops. They're simply not running all of the Green Line trains all the way to Greenbelt. It makes sense, given that most people are transfering to other lines at L'Enfant and Gallery Place. They can turn trains around at Mt. Vernon and send them back to pick up more people at Navy Yard.
esmeralda: i think Bethesdaist is talking about the last line of the post:
Bethesdaist: i'm with you. i work in Bethesda, and i don't know how many times i've had to get off at Friendship Heights because the train op decided to skip Bethesda--the place most of the passengers were going (at least it seems that way, from the number that disembark). and this is at 10am, a time when i wouldn't think it'd be as big a deal to be one stop's worth of time behind.
not to mention how many times i've seen them skip Medical Center--the only other stop i use up here. really? is it that important that we get to Shady Grove in the middle of the day exactly on time?
Esmeralda, read the last linked article in the Blog post. WTOP's article is about skipping stops, which is to Bethesdaist's point.
Bethesdaist, it's weird logic. (1) The trains speed anyway, and the ones that don't irritate me now because they aren't going as fast. May be a guy thing, I dunno. But if a train is running behind schedule, chances are the train behind it is less than 3 minutes behind. The only instance I have of a train skipping a stop was one time when a Red Line train overshot the Dupont Circle station and had to skip it. It proceeded to Woodley Park which created angst.
But then again, when doesn't Metro create angst?
Operators do not decide when to skip stops, Central Control does.
"is it that important that we get to Shady Grove in the middle of the day exactly on time?"
Theoretically, it could be. Depends on how late the train is and how much padding is in the schedule for turnarounds. If the train is late to SG, then it could be late leaving SG, then it would be late to Glenmont, etc, etc. If you're too far behind schedule, the only way to make up time is to skip stops.
hmmm voteprime, i wonder if we were on the same train. I definitely got off the train and had to get back on and I lost my seat :(
Politburo: i understand the domino effect of a late train--perhaps there's a way (or a hundred) to keep the trains from getting backed up (i don't know, wider doors that encourage people to board and offload using more than a single-file line? cattle prods for tourists? setting schedules that take these every-freaking-day delays into account? express trains?), as opposed to skipping stops--especially stops where a majority of the train is going? if you've already waited at your original station for 10 minutes for a train, and then waited 6 minutes for a train at the transfer stop, then have to get off before your stop to take the next train--even one only 2 or 3 minutes behind--well, it starts to add up. not to mention waiting at a station only to watch a train skip you.
i know this isn't the biggest problem metro has, but it's one more drop in an overflowing bucket of frustration.
Sorry Esmerelda -- I should have been specific to which post I was referring to. I was on a Red Line train that was skipping stops, and of course they skipped the stop here I was trying to go. Glad I caught the announcement, but it was still confusing (and no, another train wasn't right behind it.)
As for baseball, I'm really glad everything went well with the opener, and I hope they keep the good service up in the future. While they are at it, they might want to take a look at improving service for after Caps games, as service was pretty shabby after the last game I attended.
mr. t: thanks for pointing out that graham signs everything with "bests".
aaron: if you're going to make snarky comments like that (re: graham's supposed smugness), it would help to make sure you're absolutely sure of what you're talking about.